United Airlines to outsource some airport jobs, add others

Passengers wait in line to check in for United Airlines flights at Los Angeles International Airport in 2007. United is outsourcing more than 600 positions at 12 airports and adding about 400.

Passengers wait in line to check in for United Airlines flights at Los Angeles International Airport in 2007. United is outsourcing more than 600 positions at 12 airports and adding about 400. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

In a money-saving move, United Airlines says it will outsource the jobs of 637 workers at 12 airports across the country, including El Paso, Albuquerque and Salt Lake City.

But the Chicago-based airline said it was adding 409 workers to its payroll who formerly worked for contractors and a regional carrier in Denver, Washington, D.C., and Honolulu, plus ramp workers in Phoenix.

“This is a difficult decision, but we need to ensure that our costs are competitive,” the airline said in a statement.

Some employees whose positions will be eliminated in the outsourcing move will be allowed to transfer to other airports to continue working at United, the airline said.

Still, the International Assn. of Machinists District 141, one of the unions representing United workers at the 12 airports, criticized the airline.

"District 141 does not in any way condone or endorse this bad business decision by United," the group said in a statement. "It's wrong. United should maintain their IAM-represented workforce in every station. We simply do a better job."

The nation's largest airlines continue to rate low in customer satisfaction -- an average of only 69 on a scale of 1 to 100 points. Customer satisfaction with airlines ranks below satisfaction with insurance companies, fast food restaurants, utility companies and banks. Among the nation's largest air carriers, New York-based JetBlue scored highest for the third year in a row. But the satisfaction rating for four of the six largest airlines dropped in 2014 compared with the previous year. Even JetBlue's rating dropped. The rating by the American Customer Satisfaction Index found that the in-flight experience, especially seat comfort, has pulled the overall scores down. -- Hugo Martin (American Customer Satisfaction Index)

To read more about travel, tourism and the airline industry, follow me on Twitter at @hugomartin.